I really wish there was a simple solution for streaming audio in a stereo like box. And no, Sonos isn’t it. Neither are the “smart” speakers.

I have several frustrations with Sonos. Just the other day I was trying to setup a 10+ year old Sonos. Doesn’t work with the latest software. So I have to download a different controller. Couldn’t get it to work.

This isn’t something that should deprecate that quickly. Nest does the same thing.

Almost every “smart” appliance has a terrible network stack too. Like my washing machine can get an address on a mobile hotspot but not on my home network for some reason. And the errors are generic and useless.

We should be able to use Bluetooth or NFC or similar to configure the devices seamlessly by now.

Back to Sonos, I used to stream Internet radio. Every now and again it would drop out and I’d have to hit the power button. Why? It should be fault tolerant enough to do this on its own.

Interesting things like Spotify always seemed way harder than they should be.

As for smart speakers, thanks but no thanks. I just don’t want an always on cloud-connected microphone in my house.

So I just end up using my phone and a Bluetooth speaker. I wish there was something better.

Yamaha makes receivers with streaming connectivity (e.g. supporting Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music, SiriusXM, TIDAL, Deezer) for home theaters that work well.